The San Francisco Giants won three World Series over a five-year span, from 2010 to 2014.
They took advantage of an incredible generation of stars, ranging from Buster Posey to peak Madison Bumgarner, Hunter Pence, Pablo Sandoval, Brandon Crawford, Matt Cain, and many, many more.
Since that 2014 triumph over the Kansas City Royals, they haven’t been the same.
A big part of their problem is that they don’t draft well.
Well, it’s not that they don’t draft well… they draft so poorly, that in eight years, they haven’t picked and developed a single difference-maker.
That’s not good.
“Since the 2014 World Series, nine Giants draftees have made the majors. That’s bad. Here are those nine draftees and their WAR. It’s worse,” The Athletic’s Grant Brisbee tweeted, with a link to an article explaining the franchise’s issues while taking players in the draft.
Since the 2014 World Series, nine Giants draftees have made the majors. That's bad.
Here are those nine draftees and their WAR. It's worse.
My column: https://t.co/j1Fk4xfSMO pic.twitter.com/vp6YVU7opr
— Grant Brisbee (@GrantBrisbee) July 15, 2022
The Organization Has A Serious Talent Evaluation Issue
The highest contributor, per WAR (Wins Above Replacement) of the nine guys named by Brisbee is Steven Duggar, with a 2.5 WAR.
No other player has been worth even 1.0 WAR.
There is a legitimate prospect in that group, Heliot Ramos, with a non-finished book.
However, the rest of the group is extremely underwhelming.
The 45-43 Giants haven’t been as successful as their 2021 version, a team that won the NL West over the Los Angeles Dodgers and ended up with a whopping 107 wins.
That was a best-case scenario, though: even though the Giants showed the world their player development magic by “fixing” under-perfoming veterans left and right, they are yet to show the same eye and talent at the time of picking players from college and high school programs.
NEXT: Carlos Rodon Makes Giants History As A Newcomer